The Top 5 Reasons why I decided to stop making The Skinny Mirror
1. The product works really well, too well.
It works both at home and in commercial applications. Basically, the mirror taught me to fuc* what anyone else thinks about you. If you can look in the mirror and convince yourself that you are “good enough”, “beautiful”, “talented”, etc, you will be just that, and the rest of your world will see you as that. The mass photoshopped media has us all screwed up into thinking we need to be thin to be beautiful. This mirror does that little bit of photoshop for you, and helps you to see a reality that the rest of the world sees. Studies have actually proved The Skinny Mirror to show a “truer” reflection than a normal mirror. It’s why The Skinny Mirror has been the center of such media criticism. God forbid, if women actually felt good about themselves, they would stop buying all their products! I know I did. And yes, retailers, it will sell 18% more clothes than your normal mirror, and it deals with the whole dressing room lighting problem too. As far as it working “too well” see #4.
2. We ran out of money.
We started and built this company from our own pocketbook, passion, hard work and the help of some family and friends. Up until we closed the doors to our shop in May 2016, my husband and I were the only two cranking the mirrors out. We did all the assembly, packing, shipping and fulfillment ourselves. We got a new manufacturer in the US but the costs were just too high, we couldn’t afford to take production up a notch without an investor (who didn’t want me to “SELL OUT” and take that little logo off the mirror).
3. Shark Tank’s “twist on reality” show brought us a bunch of sales, but also a bunch of slimy, greedy people who wanted to get rich fast who wasted my time and energy.
I went on Shark Tank because I truly believe in my heart this mirror could help a lot of people and I wanted to do everything I could to get it to market. It would help not just the women who used it, but the people in these women’s lives. When you start to appreciate and like yourself, you start to like the people around you. The whole hour in the Tank, edited down to 8 minutes, cut out the entire TRUTH of the intention and psychological benefits of the product. Sales skyrocketed, but we were not prepared to fill the orders. Our returns went from 1% to 15% of sales and we were unable to handle this. Also, beling the gullible and trusting person that I am , I was not prepared to handle the rush of sleezy business people trying to shoulder their way in. The media attention after didn’t help either, because of Shark Tank’s skewed segment, every interview geared after that was based on their lie.
4. My priorities shifted.
The month Shark Tank aired for the first time was when I found out I was pregnant with our first child. A week before our son was born, we decided to sell everything, close the doors to the business, give the cars on collateral to the loan companies to clear the debt ($40,000), buy a van, travel, and live the simple life. Everyone told me I was crazy to give it up, but in my heart I knew it was crazy to keep it going. It was time for me to be a mother and a wife, and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. FYI Best decision I ever made, and the MOST fun I have ever had. Now we are having another baby this month! So excited!
5. It wasn’t worth the stress.
Skinny Mirror was my passion. I poured my heart, soul, and literally blood, sweat, and tears into it. When the lack of money became a serious factor and we found ourselves immersed in debt with no time for pleasure, it became what seemed like an inescapable prison. We became part of a growing monster that couldn’t be satisfied, similar to this modern world of technology, consumerism and commerce. I wanted time, I wanted freedom, I wanted to live my life.
I have to sincerely apologize to the handful of orders that didn’t get fulfilled in the last month of our opened doors. We were promised manufacturing and fulfillment by a company that didn’t produce a single mirror for us after we closed our doors.
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